Dragon's Teeth
by Jus Sum Dude
Summary: "I understand that its purpose is infiltration." Amanda Waller's commanding voice was amplified, reverberated, and solidified by the metal walls of the Cadmus facility until it hit Dr. Samuel Register like a tidal wave of authority. "What I don't understand is why you need the DNA of Garfield Logan of all people." (Also, since it's the only way to get people to read this... BB/Rae)
1. Chapter 1

**This is just a concept test. Although I enjoy the premise I'm not entirely certain how to proceed with this story. I would appreciate any reviews that could illuminate possible pathways for me to take. Thank you.**

* * *

"I understand that its purpose is infiltration." Amanda Waller's commanding voice was amplified, reverberated, and solidified by the metal walls of the Cadmus facility until it hit Dr. Samuel Register like a tidal wave of authority. "What I don't understand is why you need the DNA of Garfield Logan of all people."

He shivered, partly because it was quite cold several hundred meters below Jump City, partly because of his own regret for leaving the relative safety of S.T.A.R. Labs to work for someone like Waller. For her part, "The Wall" hardly seemed to notice the diminutive little scientist. After all, she only needed him for his mind.

"Well I've been reviewing the data we have on the subject, and I believe he is the perfect candidate for Project Cadmus." Dr. Register's voice was as solid as it could be as he stood shoulder to shoulder with the woman.

Waller raised her eyebrow as they entered her office, a spartan looking place with just a desk, a bookcase, a computer, a filing cabinet, three chairs, and a rather conspicuous looking red telephone. Not even a carpet on the metal floor. "Computer!" she called out. "Display the data we have on Garfield Logan, aka Beast Boy!"

A crisp, automated voice responded as a holo-display showed the data visually.

_Subject name: Garfield Logan, aka Beast Boy_

_Height: 5'8"/1.72 m_

_Weight: 150 lbs./68.0 kg_

_Nationality: American_

_Ethnicity: Caucasian_

_Species: Human_

_Classification: Mutate_

_Affiliation: Teen Titans_

_Powers: Metamorphism. Subject possesses the ability to alter his physical form to resemble that of any terrestrial or extraterrestrial animal. While in an altered form, subject obtains any natural abilities and traits that his form possesses. Although this metamorphism is typically limited to terrestrial creatures, the subject has been reported to possess the capacity to mimic the appearance and powers of extraterrestrial creatures as well. Subject also possesses an alternate "Beast form" which has been observed to be more powerful, but also more savage and less controllable than most of his other forms. Subject's metamorphism limitations have yet to be accurately determined. Further observation and research is recommended. Subject also possesses enhanced olfactory, auditory, visual, tactile, and gustatory senses. _

_Attributes: Attributes vary depending on the form used by the subject. In his standard human form, the subject's attributes have been ranked as follows. Strength: Above Average. Speed: Average. Agility: Enhanced. Reaction Time: Enhanced. Stamina: Average. Durability: Average. Intelligence: Above Average._

_Skills: Hand-to-hand combat training: Advanced. Bilingualism: Subject is fluent in American English and Lamumban French. _

_Threat Level: Minor_

_Psychological profile:_

"Enough," said Waller. "Anything you'd like to add Doctor?" she said as she sat down at her mahogany desk.

"Yes. I believe that Beast Boy's shape shifting could be used to create the perfect infiltration unit." Dr. Register hoped his voice was still sounding confident.

Waller raised an eyebrow. "We've tried that before with other shape-shifters. They never even got close to the League."

"That was because in all our previous attempts we've been using Martian DNA as the basis for our infiltrators."

"And using Mr. Logan's will somehow make a difference?" countered Waller. "From what we've observed, Beast Boy's shape-shifting is far weaker in comparison to both Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian."

"That's the thing Ms. Waller," replied the doctor. "I don't think it actually is."

Waller's eyes narrowed. She hated being contradicted.

Dr. Register swallowed his spit to ease his suddenly parched throat. Before the rest of his nerve gave out, he called out to the computer. "Computer, give me a side-by-side comparison of slides MM_01 and BB_01." On the holo-display two pictures appeared of two different cell samples, one from a Martian and one from a certain green-skinned human.

Dr. Register started by pointing at the Martian cell sample. This caused the still image to begin playing like a .gif on the internet.

"Martian shape-shifting typically occurs at the cellular level. As we can observe, the cell is altering its shape and coloration." The scientist pointed once again at the image causing it camera to zoom into the cell. Now they could observe a double-helix shaped structure most high-school students would recognize as the cell's DNA. "However, despite all these external changes to the cell, the cell's DNA remains the same.

I believe that's why our previous infiltrators failed. No matter what form they took, their DNA was always distinctly Martian. Anyone with a genetic scanner could easily ascertain whether or not someone was a Martian-derived clone."

"Or anyone with Kryptonian microscopic and x-ray vision," interrupted Waller.

"Precisely," agreed Register. "Now let's observe Beast Boy's cells." Once again, they saw the cell change its shape, although this time it didn't change its coloration. When they zoomed in to observe the cell's DNA, they saw that the rigid double-helix was dissolving and reforming like a brigade of soldiers breaking formation before assembling again. "As we can observe, Beast Boy's shape-shifting occurs at the _genetic_ level."

Waller nodded her head. She could see the potential in what Dr. Register was suggesting. She still had some apprehensions though. "If Mr. Logan's shape-shifting is so much more advanced than either of the Martians, why has he never displayed their level of metamorphic prowess?"

The scientist shrugged. "Perhaps it's a psychological issue?"

Once again Waller nodded. Considering his profile, it made sense. "What about his coloration?"

"A simple issue of pigmentation," Dr. Register waved the issue away. "Nothing a little chemical alteration can't fix."

Either way, they'd never figure it out if she didn't give the eggheads a shot. "How much raw material would you need?"

Dr. Register paused for a second to run a few calculations through his head. "About a pound of biomass from the original."

Just one pound? That didn't sound like a problem for someone of her influence. Besides, the Titans had been expanding their membership at an alarming rate ever since that business with the Brain. They needed to be cut down to size anyway before she had another Justice League on her hands.

"You'll have your pound of flesh. Literally. Now leave me." The little man couldn't have scampered out of there faster.

"Computer," she called out. "Get me the Suicide Squad."

On the holo-display were all the currently available members. Not a bad roster. But it might not be enough. She picked up the red telephone on her desk and placed a secure call.

After a few rings she was rewarded with a voice that was altogether too deep, too dark, and too menacing. "Yes, my dear Ms. Waller? What can I do for you?"

"Shove it." She hated him. But in this business, you don't get to choose your friends.

"You know that favor you owe me? Well I'm calling it in Slade."

Silence. She could feel the slimy bastard squirming. When he answered she could tell he was gritting his teeth.

"Can't. Wait."


	2. Chapter 2

"Hi Rae!"

Beast Boy's voice was excited as he burst out of the door to the roof, running at top speed towards her. If she had opened her eyes she would have glimpsed a green blur topped with a boyish face giddy with excitement. Of course, she did not open her eyes. She muttered a mandatory response as Garfield jumped over her meditating form and swan-dived off the roof of the Tower.

"Bye Rae!"

Moments before hitting the ground he morphed into a peregrine falcon (_falco peregrinus_) and shot off towards downtown Jump City. Raven vaguely remembered something about a "Free Comic Book Day" and some sort of gathering of the nerds. She assumed Cheetohs and cosplayers would be involved. Needless to say, she would not be celebrating.

"Wait! I wish to participate in the day of comic book liberation as well!"

Starfire, on the other hand, seemed obligated to celebrate. No way would she miss out on a chance to experience Earth culture, no matter how banal that "culture" was. If there was joy or happiness to be felt, Star would be there in an instant to make everyone's day a bit brighter. She seemed so joyous Raven was surprised when she didn't break the sound barrier as she rushed off after Beast Boy.

"Wait up Star!"

And if Star was there, Robin would be there too. Just the thought of Starfire being engulfed in a throng of pre-to-post-pubescent, single boys would have probably given him hives. Right now he was scrambling to put on a jetpack, activating the engines before he even had time to secure all the straps. Cyborg barely had time to despair for his latest creation before Robin rocketed off after Starfire.

"Aw man, that's my prototype!"

He quickly pulled up a holographic display as he moved the T-car into position. He mumbled some form of greeting to Raven as he jumped off the roof and landed with an earth-rumbling THUD right next to the T-car. He was worried as he got into his faithful chariot. Partly for Robin, as the prototype was untested. For all he knew about how well it handled, Dick might as well be flying on a magic carpet made of explosives and tin foil. However most of him was worried for his shiny, new jetpack. In the hands of an emotionally distressed Robin his prototype might as well be piloted by Beast Boy after a particularly disastrous lobotomy. With all that on his mind he put the T-car into hovercraft-mode and glided across the bay and into the city.

Which left Raven all alone in the Tower. Again.

It was a nice day out, enough sun to be warm but not enough to be sweltering, enough breeze to be refreshing but not enough to prove disruptive, enough noise from the occasional sea bird and car horn to feel like Jump City but not enough annoy her. That was why it was so damned irritating that she now found it impossible to return to her meditation on a day that was perfect for doing so. But though she was loathe to admit it, the newfound silence in her head without any of her friends around was more distracting than her friends themselves, even Beast Boy. She ended up reflecting on the past instead, something which she found to be just as enlightening and far less mentally strenuous

Robin and Starfire were officially dating after five agonizing years of melodrama. From the way those two had tip-toed around it, Raven swore it was like they were being followed around by cameras and were trying to stretch out the tension as much as possible to constantly tease viewers with questions of "will-they-won't-they" (Raven wondered how that could have possibly worked since she had never seen a single instance in TV or film where the two lovers chose the "won't" option). They seemed to be very much in love, at least according to what little Raven knew of the concept. Unfortunately, they were also attracting far more media attention now thanks to those the two. Everyone wanted to know everything about the state of affairs in the Titans household. Still, those two seemed to handling their celebrity with grace and charm and Raven was happy to see that her friends were happy with each other.

Cyborg hadn't changed quite as much. Physically speaking, his technology had to be upgraded to keep up with the times. His new chassis was an alloy of promethium, vanadium, and titanium, whatever that stuff was, and he now had the firepower of a small battalion. He'd actually received a few letters from the NRA asking him to be there new spokesperson. He vehemently refused, being a staunch democrat, though Raven did find the whole affair amusing, particularly the look on the NRA representative's face when Victor revealed that he had voted blue his entire adult life. In terms of his social life, he was still dating Bumblebee from Titans East, though their relationship wasn't quite as disgustingly clingy as Dick and Kori's. They were both exclusive, but they were also both professionals with busy lives. Keeping Titans East under control and protecting Steel City took all of Karen's time, and Victor's schedule these days was mostly filled with maintenance work, research and development, and waffles (which he took very seriously). Other than that, the tin man was still the fun-loving, down-to-earth guy that he had been when they first met.

For years now, Beast Boy had been resigned to the fact that he would never hit his growth spurt. So he was as surprised as everyone else when, over the course of the last few months, it had finally happened. Granted, it wasn't much by male superhero standards as he was still the shortest of the three guys. However, he was no longer the shortest of the Titans, that title had been begrudgingly accepted by Raven. Unfortunately, his uniform was now a little too small for him. Obtaining a replacement was more troublesome than you'd think, since the fabric had to be an organic material that could shape-shift with him, similar to Martian Manhunter's cloak. Garfield eventually decided that getting a new one from Mento or J'onn was more trouble than it was worth, so he just stuck with the old one. Besides, it held a lot of sentimental value to him. It still fit comfortably, thanks to its bio-forming properties, but it did leave his forearms and calves exposed. Not that Raven entirely minded…

The day Garfield had surpassed Raven in terms of height she had briefly considered wearing platform heels to bring herself up the necessary few inches just to spite Beast Boy, but then she realized that she didn't own any, and she certainly wasn't going to the mall to go buy a pair. She may have fallen into the depths of Hell itself and come back unscathed, but she was still utterly terrified of what Starfire could do to her in that wretched cesspool of consumerist decadence. However, aside from her building-specific agoraphobia, Raven had mellowed somewhat. She didn't throw Garfield out the nearest window when he interrupted her meditation, nor did she punch him in the nose when he interrupted her reading, and she had stopped threatening to send him to another dimension when he was inevitably overly affectionate. Nope. She was a newer, calmer Raven. Nowadays she typically teleported him outside when he interrupted her meditations (a few hundred feet in the air), elbowed him in the gut when he interrupted her reading, and when he tried to hug her she pushed him away and told him to "fuck off".

Newer, calmer Raven had a rather broad definition for the word "mellow".

Sadly, Raven eventually ran out of past to reflect on, so she did what she always did when she had nothing to do and teleported to the her favorite bookstore downtown. When she arrived she was immediately surrounded by men and women of varying ages, but all wearing some sort of comic-book related paraphernalia. She suddenly remembered that the comic book store was next to the bookstore.

"Shit."

As if on cue, a green arm wrapped itself around her shoulder and a grinning face materialized out of the crowd, fangs gleaming.

"About time you got here!"

.

.

.

Great. Now _she_ was here too. This complicated matters significantly. Still, this was probably their best window of opportunity. He was here, he was off guard, the cops were at least thirty minutes away, and any other heroes were at least twenty. She had been hesitating, waiting to see if the other heroes would get bored and leave, but now it looked as if they were going to depart home together and probably soon. If they were going to do it, they had to do it _now_. Waller spoke into the communicator as she watched the Titans talking, relaxing, and otherwise having a good time from the comfort and safety of her office.

"Deathstroke, you have a go. Execute on your mark."

Slade waited inside of an unassuming sedan, a gift from Waller. Holographic projectors made it look as if the vehicle was unoccupied without the suspicious black of tinted windows. Slade had learned long ago not to underestimate the Boy Wonder's observational skills. He checked one more time over his ear piece to see if the rest of his team was in their places.

From across the comic book shop was a small café which Raven never bothered going to. It served too much coffee and too little tea and its patrons seemed to think that People Magazine was an acceptable substitute for Edgar Allen Poe. On the second floor of the establishment was a small office where there were usually a handful of employees who managed all the business-related aspects of the shop. Currently all three of these people were stuffed in a closet, unconscious but unharmed. Standing in the middle of the office was a large man in a gunmetal-grey and blood-red metal body suit, a brown trench coat, and a red eye-piece. In his arms was a custom-made, .50 caliber rifle loaded with armor-piercing rounds. Cradling the weapon like a child he responded to Deathstroke's command.

"Deadshot, in position."

In the café underneath, where customers were busy sipping lattés and cappuccinos, sat a man in a black three piece suit, a black bowler hat, black sunglasses, and an indiscreet walking stick with a golden eagle's head and a midnight black shaft. He raised a cup of watery, tasteless beverage as he responded on his own comm-piece.

"Shade, in position."

On one side of the crowd was a young lady with red hair, fair skin, and green eyes, wearing a green t-shirt, skinny jeans, and converse sneakers. Her shirt featured a picture of the planet Earth and a slogan around it reading "SAVE THE PLANET!" As she stood in front of the bookstore she briefly peeked up from her book, "How Superheroes are Killing the Planet" by Glorious Godfrey, to inspect the sorceress and the changeling.

"Poison Ivy, in position."

On the opposite side of the crowd sat a young women who was anxiously fingering her holographic ring. Pamela was wearing a similar device. She stood apart from the mob, enough for her to feel comfortable but close enough to not stand out. No one in the mob seemed to be in a rush to make her acquaintance either. Something about her appearance, her colorless blonde hair, her frigid blue eyes, the paleness of her skin, or perhaps the frosty blue of her dress and high heels, made her seem icy and cold.

"Killer Frost, in position."

Slade took a few breaths and inspected his equipment once more. The years had only made the Titans stronger, so he wasn't going to go easy on them. His Promethium sword was sharp, his guns were loaded, and his promethium-vanadium-titanium-alloy armor was even newly shined.

Deathstroke allowed himself a grim smile. It was time to go to work.


	3. Chapter 3

There were no oceans on Azarath. There were fountains, baths, and gardens with little ponds in them, but until the day Raven came to Earth she had never seen the ocean. It was completely unlike anything she had ever seen. Unlike those fountains, baths, and little ponds back home, the ocean was dirty, filled with sand, salt, and brine. It had things in it, little swimming things that glided like birds in a liquid sky. It was so different. It was so _alive_.

For the longest time however, it also terrified her. She had long since gotten over that fear, but back then, when everything was still so new and unusual to her, she struggled to keep that fear in check whenever she flew over the bay. It all went back to the first and last time she ever jumped in. She knew she shouldn't have, but that small part of her, the part of her that usually kept quiet, the part that never spoke its mind, the part that had foolishly told Beast Boy that he was funny all those years ago, wanted to know what it was like to be caressed by those blue waves.

So she jumped.

It was amazing. The temperature changed instantly from a warm summer day to a cold winter night. The water rushed up to meet her, as curious of her as she was of it. It felt along every inch of her skin, every crevice of her body. It was gentle, but knew what it wanted.

At least at first.

Than its desire overwhelmed its concern. It forced its way up her nose and into her mouth. She could taste the salt as it coerced its way down her throat. It takes very little water to begin the drowning process, and once it begins the body takes over. She couldn't move her legs, and her arms were flapping from side to side against her will. Her instincts forced her head back and her eyes opened wide at the wide blue sky she knew she'd never see again. Panicking, her breaths came faster and faster, but since she couldn't get her head above the water that only dragged more seawater into her lungs. With each inhale, her thoughts grew fuzzier and she began to see things: the spires of Azarath, the stern face of Azar, her mother's apparent apathy, four cruel, terrible, yellow eyes. Darkness encroached on the edge of her vision.

"No."

BOOM!

The blast that saved her life looked like a miniature Hiroshima made of pure dark energy. All the water in a ten-foot radius around her was instantly vaporized, and Raven was left vomiting up seawater in a protective sphere of blackness.

Elsewhere, in a place where fire scorched flesh on bodies that could not die, a terrible tyrant smiled to himself. His investment had been saved.

.

.

.

"About time you got here!"

Raven pushed off his arm and tried to force her way through the crowd. Her annoyance radiated off of her in empathic waves as her powers spiked in intensity from the sudden exposure to such a jubilant crowd. Their smiles and laughter felt like a haze of raw emotion and Raven had to focus hard to keep herself from losing control. Garfield's grinning face wasn't helping either.

"Hey, I got you something!"

Garfield produced several plastic bags full of comic books. From the massive assortment he pulled out a thick volume. On the cover Raven could see a bright yellow smiley face with a single drop of blood splattered on its plastic surface. She barely paid attention as she made her way through the crowd and towards the bookstore, with its promised peace and quiet.

The haze grew stronger as the voices of the crowd forced their way through her ears and into her brain. Raw emotion threatened to burst out. She had to get out of here. This wasn't a sea of saltwater, these were people. Vaporize them and she'd do a lot more than just vomit.

"Hey, wait up!"

_Just a few more steps and you'll be fine_. Raven dearly wished she could just fly or teleport out of here, but it was better not to risk using her powers. She might accidentally levitate some people into the sky with her, or teleport some of the crowd onto the moon or something else terrible.

"Aren't you even going to look?!"

Although maybe she should just teleport Beast Boy onto the moon. _No Raven, you need to focus. You're mellow now, remember? Calm, collected, and mellow._

"You know I had to fight off wave after wave of fans to get this copy, right? It's got Alan Moore's signature on it-"

Raven snapped. She whirled around and lashed out with her hand, knocking the object out of Beast Boy's hands. It sailed off into the crowd and Beast Boy could only watch helplessly as the graphic novel was lost in the crowd of feet.

"Rae!"

By the time he turned to confront his fellow Titan she was already gone. He would have gone after her, but he had to save that book! He dived into the fray, searching the pavement with panicking eyes. Morphing into a dachshund he dashed his nimble body into the forest of legs, nose pointed downward as he followed the scent of the book. He almost got to it when a pair of legs in skinny jeans and converse sneakers reached down and grabbed it first.

"Um, excuse me?" he said, morphing back into a human. He was about to ask if he could have his book back when he got a good look at her. Standing at his height, her pale skin contrasted well against her scarlet hair. Every movement she made caused it to flow like the flames of a bonfire, and her green eyes shined similar to his. They even gleamed in the sun like his, only his held the spark of laughter and merriment, while hers glowed with a certain sense of malice. She had a voluptuous body with curves in all the right places and not a single deformity could be seen. Simply put, she was hot. So he responded to her in the way that all inexperienced teenage boy do after suddenly finding themselves in the presence of an incredibly sexy woman.

"Umm, hi. Book. You. Give. Please. Hi?" Garfield found that despite how tongue-tied he was, he could still taste the foot in his mouth.

"That book's a good choice. I especially love how it repeatedly proves how dangerous concentrated power is, _particularly_ in the hands of superheroes."

Garfield didn't hear a word of it. He did however try once again to introduce himself. Shaking his head to clear away the hormones he stretched out his hand and said, in a hopefully confident voice, "Hi, my name's Beast B-err, Garfield."

She smiled, the sun flashing off her pearly whites as she reciprocated the gesture. "Call me Pam."

"Like the cooking spray!" Garfield practically flinched as soon as he heard himself say it. _Smooth move, comparing her to an aerosol can of cooking oil._

To Garfield's relief she just laughed. Garfield laughed with her, hoping he could pass off his lameness as a joke. When she was finished she handed the graphic novel back to Garfield.

With a mischievous look bordering on malicious, she gave him a smile that excited every hormone in his body. "You wanna head over to the café and discuss that comic over some coffee?"

Garfield didn't even drink coffee, yet no man on Earth could have resisted the look she was giving him. At least that was the thought which served as his excuse.

He had no idea how right he was.


	4. Chapter 4

Raven sighed as she sat down, relieved but guilty. The barista acknowledged her familiar face as she hurried to make a cup of the usual for Raven, herbal tea with a slice of lemon and a splash of honey. The sorceress supposed she had overreacted back there with Beast Boy, but the thought of having to apologize to him made her cringe. She could already picture his whiny tantrum, complete with flailing arms and high-pitched squeals of pathetic anger.

_He'll be fine. He's like Rubberband Man. Flatten him and he'll just pop back into shape._

Rubbing her temples, she slowed her breathing down while chanting her mantra. _Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…_ Gradually the familiar words grew until they drowned out the noise of emotions that threatened to strangle her back there in the crowd. Even in the very rear of the bookstore, as far as she could get from the mob, she couldn't banish them completely. But she could at least regain her center. With her composure thus restored, she opened her eyes.

Only to have them nearly bug out of her skull at what she saw. There was Garfield, amicably chatting with what appeared to be a beautiful young woman.

She quickly turned her head so that Garfield wouldn't see her looking. She immediately scolded herself for doing so. _Oh come on Raven, it's just Beast Boy! _Oddly though, she couldn't bring herself to turn her head. So instead she removed one of the ruby gems from her belt (they weren't just for decoration) and used its reflective surface to spy – err, _observe_ – her emerald teammate.

Her eyes narrowed. From what she could tell the women was a redhead with pale skin, though not as corpse-like as Raven's own pallor, a body that was shaped to a geometric scale of Euclidean perfection, and flashing green eyes that held a seductive gleam which even Raven could see in her blood-toned reflection. The empath had to admit, with a certain amount of bitterness, that she was attractive in every sense of the word.

Beast Boy couldn't have agreed more. Although at the moment the poppy-haired woman could have told him he was a robot from Mars and he would have only nodded his head in agreement. Like he was doing right now. What was she even saying? Weirdly, despite his superhuman senses he couldn't really hear anything. He couldn't smell anything either. Both of these senses were being muted by a sort of pleasant buzzing sensation in the back of his brain. Something in his psyche growled.

_This isn't right._

_Oh, shut up. We're having an actual conversation with an actual woman who'll actually talk with us. What could go wrong?_

In the deepest recess of his mind the Beast rolled its eyes in a decidedly human way.

Suddenly Beast Boy felt himself holding something soft and gentle through the fabric of his gloves. He glanced down and realized that Pam had slipped one of her delicately manicured hands into one of his own.

_Holy shit!_

On the other side of the room the gem Raven was using glowed black and cracked. As her emotions once more threatened to burst out she put the ruby down and tried to calm herself. _Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…_

Pam's finger drew little circles on his hand, languidly making its way towards his exposed forearm. She kept talking, but Beast Boy couldn't really pay attention. He found that he could only make out every few words. His vision blurred and his senses dulled. It was like there was a mist in his eyes, clouds in his ears, and a fog in his brain. But he just couldn't bring himself to fight it. It was like trying to resist sleep after a long day. The more he attempted the more he found he couldn't, and honestly he wasn't even trying that much. _So… perfect…_

Suddenly a new scent drifted into his conscience. It smelled of lilacs and old books. _Raven?! _Something in him panicked, though he didn't know why. He turned around and, sure enough, there she was, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples like she always did when something annoyed her (Beast Boy knew because she was often doing it in response to something he did). Obviously something was bothering her right now.

_But sexy redhead!_

_Shut up!_

As he turned to apologize to the aforementioned sexy redhead, he froze.

And just like that, the illusion was shattered. He knew it as soon as he looked at her. The prey in him told him he was in danger. The predator told him to get ready to fight. Now that he paid attention, something in her scent was foreign, dangerous, and… _plant-like_?!

He grabbed her hand, as if to pin her in place.

"Who are you?" his voice was something between a bark and a growl.

Wordlessly, she produced from her purse a small rock, a pebble really. No, that wasn't it. Garfield realized it looked like some sort of _seed_.

"I suppose you won't come quietly?" Her voice was almost pouty.

He looked around the store. His hawk-like eyes narrowed. In several places around the store, on shelves, under tables, and on chairs, were at least a dozen of these seeds. _This was planned…_

His grip tightened on her hand, but it wasn't comforting or loving.

Pam sighed. _And it was going so well…_

With a sound like an explosion each of the seeds exploded into a mass of writhing, green vines, shooting out like shrapnel. Beast Boy, guided by his animal instincts, dodged the first few plant tentacles before transforming into a Silverback Gorilla and throwing himself at the woman he know recognized as Poison Ivy. Raven was quickly bludgeoned by one of the vines in the back of the head before she could summon her magic. She struggled to overcome the vegetation before she was encased in a thick coffin of wood. The plants continued to wrap themselves around furniture, pets, and even people, as they terraformed the quaint little shop into a verdant jungle, complete with solid tree trunks, vines like snakes, and blood-red flowers. Guided by Poison Ivy's will, the plants quickly assembled themselves into barriers at all the doors and windows, trapping both of the heroes and all of the civilians, who were left to run around like headless chickens.

Outside the remaining Titans could hear the pandemonium.

"Titans, go!" cried Robin, failing to notice the pale women standing behind them with her arms raised, or the man in the window across the street with his rifle in hand and a smile on his face.

In a flash of blue light, Killer Frost froze the metal man in his tracks. Before he could fight back, the ice had already overgrown his body like a crystal fungus. The red light of his eye blinked and fizzled out as the ice caused his electronics to short circuit. He fell over, stiff as a titanium corpse.

"Cyborg!" Kori rushed to her friends side, starbolts in hand.

A crack like thunder roared as a depleted Promethium bullet flew straight and true to its target. Starfire gasped, her back arched, before slumping over her fallen Titan. Between her shoulder blades, inside a pool of green Tamaranean blood, was a single bullet hole.

"KORI!"


	5. Chapter 5

Pam threw off her cloaking ring as the green silverback gorilla threw itself at the now similarly shaded woman, teeth bared and roaring. The villain summoned a wall of wood to shield her, but the 500 lbs. beast easily reduced it to splinters. Garfield raised both of his fists, preparing to bring them down on his adversary before vines shot out to restrain him. Before they could tighten their grip he shape-shifted into a hummingbird, using the bird's small size and maneuverability to evade the twisting plants.

The little bookstore, barely larger than most single-person apartments, was swiftly becoming overcrowded with vegetation, as had been the intention. The plan had originally been for the seductress to lure him inside and then use her pheromones to seal his fate, but just in case the store had been chosen because in such close quarters his advantage in speed and agility would be stubbed.

The changeling morphed into an African bull elephant and charged straight for her. He didn't get very far as the raging pachyderm was stopped by a dozen vines each thicker than a man's wrist. Garfield responded by morphing into a brown spider monkey, climbing one of the vines and jumping straight at the villain. Changing into a blue dasher dragonfly, Garfield zipped through and between the tentacle-like vines Poison Ivy continued to send at him. Almost a second before impact he morphed into a black mamba and landed fangs first on his opponent's chest.

"AARRGH!"

Garfield jumped off of the villain and morphed back into a human.

"I suggest you surrender now. The venom of the black mamba can kill a human in anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes. Give up now and I can make sure that you'll-"

Beast Boy didn't even have time to finish before she raised her hand and sent a dozen vines to smash him. Morphing into an African pygmy squirrel, the tiny rodent barely got out of the way. Garfield gulped when he saw the crater that the plants left where he had been standing just a second ago.

"Idiot! I was picked for this assignment because I'm immune to every variety of poison, toxin, and venom on the planet!"

It was times like these that Beast Boy really wished he had studied his supervillains like Robin had told him to.

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Deadshot zeroed in on the alien's back. A headshot would have been pointless as there wasn't a bullet on Earth that could penetrate that thick Tamaranean skull. He had suggested putting a bullet in one of her eyes, but Slade had given him with a dangerous look. He could feel the other mercenary's glare through his mask and eye-patch.

_Right. Sore subject._

So instead he put a bullet in her back, slipping the metal slug right between her ribs to strike some of her more vital organs. He didn't even check to see if the girl went down, he already knew what the result of his little surgery would be. He was already searching for the last remaining Titan. The Cyborg was down, so was the alien, so all that was left was-

Deadshot yanked his head to the side to avoid the small metal disc Robin had thrown. It sailed through the air right where the sniper's forehead had been just a millisecond ago to plant itself somewhere in the ceiling. Deadshot saw a light on it glow and heard the device emit a small beep sound before he threw himself out the window.

_BOOM!_

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The two fighters found themselves at a temporary stalemate. None of Poison Ivy's plants could move fast enough to catch the small green creature, but none of Beast Boys forms that were agile enough to dodge the vines were big enough to cause any harm to the villain, and none of his venomous animals would have any effect. The second he transformed into a bear or a tiger the vines would have him wrapped up like a burrito. He could try something bigger, but he couldn't risk accidentally hurting one of the civilians or even Raven if he exploded into a T. Rex or a blue whale.

Beast Boy gasped as another vine flew by him. Pam wasn't playing anymore, now the vines were growing thorns! Garfield didn't have any time to nurse the cut on his cheek; he had to keep avoiding the overgrown shrubs. But he could already feel himself tiring. He'd run out of breath long before Pam ran out of vines.

Suddenly, he had an idea. Once more he morphed into a small, nimble dragonfly, swooping down for an attack run on Ivy. The villain just rolled her eyes, summoning another wall of vines to halt whatever large animal Garfield was going to turn into. Instead, once more Garfield turned into a snake, weaving his way past the vines to wrap himself around his target's waist, chest, and throat.

_Not all snakes attack with venom._

Beast Boy had transformed into a green anaconda, the largest and heaviest of all known species of snake. Weighing over 100 lbs. and over 15 ft. long, this snake doesn't use fangs or poison. Instead it relies on powerful muscles to constrict its prey, cutting off air until they are overwhelmed by asphyxiation. Which was exactly what Garfield was doing right now.

But even as the serpent tightened its coils, as the pressure built up until it felt like her head was about to explode, Ivy wasn't totally defenseless. Summoning her vines, they wrapped themselves around the snake, thorns digging into Beast Boy's scales as they attempted to out-constrict the constrictor. Beast Boy felt sharp pain all over his body as the thorns drew blood, but he held on grimly. Hopefully Poison Ivy would pass out before he lost too much blood.

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Robin saw the gunman fly out of the window, barely escaping the blast radius of Robin's explosive disc. He saw the blood-red and gunmetal-grey body suit and red eyepiece characteristic of the mercenary known as Deadshot, aka Floyd Lawton. Lawton was one of the world's best marksmen, but was also a dangerous hand-to-hand fighter. Dick back-flipped to avoid a blast of cold sent his way from his other adversary, Killer Frost, aka Louise Lincoln, former scientist and now full-time psychopath. Robin threw his birdarangs, but they were easily deflected by gusts of ice-cold air.

_When facing a group of enemies, your first goal should always be to eliminate the advantage they have in numbers. The Greeks did this at Thermopylae by forcing the Persians to fight them in a narrow pass where Greek battle formations would undercut the Persian's numerical advantage. Hannibal accomplished this at Cannae by goading the Romans into over-concentrating their forces, trapping them and utterly slaughtering them. In Europe the Mongols accomplished a similar thing by taking advantage of the fractious nature of the local nobility, preventing them from offering a united resistance._

First divide and conquer. Robin threw down a handful of smoke bombs and the street was suddenly engulfed in a thick, grey fog. Frost coughed as she inhaled the smoky fumes before summoning a cold breeze to throw away the artificial clouds. Both she and her partner looked around. The Boy Wonder had vanished.

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Blackness was encroaching on the edge of her vision now, as Poison Ivy's eyes slowly began to roll backwards into her skull, and her knees gave way beneath her. Beast Boy ignored the pain as the thorns dug their way deeper and deeper into his flesh. Flicking his serpent's tongue, he could taste the woman's panic. He was so close! He just had to hold on a little bit longer!

_Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!_

In a flurry of black energy, the wooden coffin trapping Raven was ripped apart like paper. It had taken her a moment to summon her power, but now that she was out she could deal with that hippie bi-

_Beast Boy!_

Raven could sense his pain and distress and immediately summoned her power, yanking him away from the woman, who collapsed gasping for air like a fish out of water.

Beast Boy suddenly found himself engulfed in an all-too-familiar darkness.

"Raven, I had her!" he shouted angrily.

"I can see that your plan to bleed all over her was working flawlessly." Even when their lives were in danger her sarcasm was working perfectly. She reached over to treat his wounds.

He swatted her hands away. "Save it."

"But-"

"Not now!"

Ivy rubbed her throat as she struggled to her feet. That had been too close. No more fooling around. She snapped her fingers, and all the red flowers in the store exploded into clouds of green gas.

* * *

_Quick question, is this a decent chapter length? 1,000-1,500 words?_


End file.
